Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Speedlinking 6/6/07

Quote of the day:

"When you look at yourself from a universal standpoint, something inside always reminds or informs you that there are bigger and better things to worry about."
~ Albert Einstein

Image of the day:


BODY
~ Progress Toward A Healthier Form Of Starch For Processed Foods -- "Scientists in Indiana are reporting progress toward development of low glycemic and slowly digestible starch, a form of starch that would be less apt to cause the spike in blood sugar - and perhaps sharp hunger pangs - that many individuals experience after eating bread, baked goods, and other high-carbohydrate foods."
~ Pilot Ginseng Study Shows Reduction In Cancer-Related Fatigue -- "North Central Cancer Treatment Group (http://ncctg/) (NCCTG) researchers, based at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., have generated preliminary data suggesting that a form of American ginseng provides greater improvements in fatigue and vitality in patients who receive the highest doses tested, compared to lower doses or no treatment."
~ Turbulence and the time machine -- "I recently sat down with the founder of Turbulence Training Craig Ballantyne and grilled him... Turbulence Training is a very time efficient, short workout program that builds muscle and burns fat without you having to spend hours in the gym. But how would Craig design a "last minute" fat loss program -- when we really do have no time ......"
~ Get Flat Abs Fast -- "Flatten your abs just in time for bikini season."
~ Avoiding Overuse Injuries And Burnout: Taking A Break Is A Winning Move For Young Athletes -- "Too much of a good thing can be harmful, especially when it comes to children playing sports. As more children and adolescents participate in organized and recreational sports, pediatricians are seeing an increasing number of children and adolescents with overuse injuries caused by too much training and not enough rest." This goes for adults too.
~ Low Testosterone Could Kill You -- "Low Levels of Male Hormone May be More Dangerous Than Previously Thought."
~ Anti-Inflammatory Effects Of Adiponectin In The Circulation -- "Adiponectin is a protein hormone excreted into the bloodstream by fatty tissue and it plays a role in the suppression of inflammation-associated metabolic disorders that may result in type 2 diabetes, obesity, and atherosclerosis. In the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Rosario Scalia and colleagues from Thomas Jefferson University studied the vascular protective actions of adiponectin in mice."


PSYCHE
~ Study Shows That Being Judgmental May Increase Risk of Anxiety -- "A recent study performed by researchers at the University of Vermont’s Department of Psychology explored possible links between anxiety and mindfulness skills."
~ Good news you may want to forget -- "It will come as a relief to many that forgetfulness is a tool the brain employs to avoid overloading with repetitive information."
~ Get Ahead of Summer Stress -- "To help prevent those small stressors from becoming big problems, Professor of Integrative Medicine at Portland State University and single mother of three, Claire Michaels Wheeler, M.D., Ph.D has authored a book called, 10 Simple Solutions to Stress."
~ Motivated Cognition in Relationships, or How Motivated Cognition Can Save Your Marriage [Mixing Memory] -- "In what ways is motivated reasoning used in relationships? I'm glad you asked. Let's start with attributions. Fincham and Bradbury4 conducted a 12-month study involving 130 couples in which the effects of different types of attributions on marital satisfaction were measured. They found that when participants attributed positive behaviors by their partners to situational factors, and negative behaviors to the partners themselves (as opposed to situational factors), their relationship satisfaction was significantly lower, 12 months later, than for participants who attributed positive behaviors to their partners, and negative behaviors to the situation."
~ Happy or Just Not Depressed? -- "How to survey your mood."
~ The Paradise Paradox -- "Happiness really does start inside."
~ Is feeling better as easy as ABC? -- "Below is an outline of the ABCDE method for disputing your thoughts. The idea is that your thoughts can generate your feelings. So, if you take active control of your thoughts, you are in turn taking active control of your emotions (Reivich & Shatte, 2003)."


CULTURE/POLITICS
~ A Blog Is a Little First Amendment Machine -- "With blogging, an awkward term, we designate a fairly beautiful thing: the extension to many more people of a free press franchise and the right to publish your thoughts to the world."
~ Genes for Language -- "You would think that language as a general phenomena in the human species is genetically prescribed, but the peculiarities of individual languages -- such as whether a people uses a particular phoneme or not -- is the result of historical or geographical factors."
~ Can the religious left sway the '08 race? -- "Democratic presidential candidates are speaking openly about faith, competing for 'values voters.'"
~ What you missed while watching "Deal or No Deal" -- "Salon watches the third GOP debate so you don't have to: God frowns on Giuliani, Romney does weird math on Iraq, Thompson proposes a Bush morality tour, and more." See also: Republican Debate Report Card.
~ Newspaper War? Burkle vs. Murdoch -- "Ron Burkle is dipping into a possible challenge to Rupert Murdoch's bid for Dow Jones. It's not the first time the two titans have met."
~ The end of Bush's kangaroo courts? -- "The dismissal of two cases in Guantánamo Bay dealt a rightful blow to the administration's quasi-justice system for alleged terrorists."


HABITATS/TECHNOLOGY
~ Best Places to Get Free Books - The Ultimate Guide -- "When we were reviewing 10 of the best online resources for free books, we had a LOT of readers chime in with their own favorites as well. Thank you for all your helpful contributions!"
~ The Universe, Expanding Beyond All Understanding -- "Our successors, whoever and wherever they are, may have no way of finding out about the Big Bang and the expanding universe, according to one of the more depressing scientific papers I have ever read."
~ Study: Hurricane Surge 'Normal' -- "Global warming may not be to blame for the recent surge in hurricane activity."
~ 3 Teams Report Stem Cell Progress -- "In a leap forward for stem cell research, three independent teams of scientists reported Wednesday that they have produced the equivalent of embryonic stem cells in mice without the controversial destruction of embryos."
~ A miniature robot for keyhole neurosurgery -- "Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have developed a miniature image-guided robot for use during keyhole neurosurgery. The MiniAture Robot for Surgical Applications (MARS) was designed and developed by Leo Joskowicz and his colleagues at the Hebrew University’s Computer Aided Surgery and Medical Image Processing Laboratory."
~ Cold Case Closed: 'Iceman' Mummy Bled to Death -- "Mummy scientists have determined the cause of death of the 'Iceman.'"
~ Nanomedicine opens the way for nerve cell regeneration -- "The ability to regenerate nerve cells in the body could reduce the effects of trauma and disease in a dramatic way. In two presentations at the NSTI Nanotech 2007 Conference, researchers describe the use of nanotechnology to enhance the regeneration of nerve cells."


INTEGRAL/BUDDHIST
~ The magic of void -- "When there is an identification with content of awareness, with stories and their objects such as this human self, then void is not something that looks particular attractive. I am something, and object in the world, and void means an absence of that. It means death."
~ Karma and infinite causes -- "Karma, as anything else, can be filtered through a sense of a separate self, or an absence of identification with stories, and so also a separate self."
~ All in Your Head -- "Ross Laird, “interdisciplinary scholar and creative artist,” shared his notes from a recent presentation he gave to a panel at the conference of The Writers’ Union of Canada. With the panel being titled All in Your Head, he spun an eloquent and passionate call for artists to focus on psychological development, awareness and our Source that can be found whispering our original name in everything we somehow forget is our Self."
~ Buddhism: From Depression to Happiness -- "A local order member from Friends of the Western Buddhist Order often teaches a class here called, "Moving from dukkha to shraddha" (or from suffering to confidence). I haven't taken the class, but I know it highlights a pivotal point in the Buddhist path; a revolution of sorts from aimless pathlessness to spiritual progress."
~ My Q & A with Ken Wilber -- Part 2 -- "In January I participated in a conference call with Ken Wilber on Integral Spiritual Center, in particular the chapter on the shadow. The second part of the dialogue is 30 minutes of just he and I speaking about the shadow (posted under Media, 5/25/07)." [Subscription required.]


1 comment:

James said...

Thanks for the mention - really appreciate it :)